This would be very quick and easy to set up in an afternoon if the lights and hoods and plywood lids and tubs are all on hand and I think will be cheapest option for housing separately and rearing your three wee hatchlings.

This is the configuration of each my TWO STACKABLE REARING TUBS

For each stackable rearing tub I have the following fittings1 x EXO TERRA NANO HOOD for CFBs each has a 26W UVB200 in it , these are attached to the underside of each tub's lid with a 2x short M5 hexhead screws , my UVB200s are approx. 8 inches from the basking spot.1 x ceramic E27 light fitting attached each to a short "plank" of 1/2 inch plywood (offcut) , these have a 60W incandescent colourless spotglobe (nothing specially) for winter , and drop to about 40W in summer in order to achieve 40oCelsius at the basking spot. The spot globe has a wire cage around it to prevent my hatchlings from touching the very hot surface of the globe or the E27 fitting.I run a 7W film style heatpad which is sandwhiched between two layers of ceramic tiles and governed by a simple switching thermostat whose probe is adhered to the top of the warmed tiles , is set to hold 37oCelsius (the heatpad and tiles are under the hide , the hide serves as the basking spot.

Very easy setup in an hour or two, I made ventilation holes in the small ends of the tubes using an electric soldering iron (about 200 holes each end , one set low near the bottom (cool zone) and the other near the top of the opposite end.

My lights are all on the same 12 socket powerboard which is attached to a household programmable timer , I set my lights to come on at 6am and go off at 10pm.

Last edited by kingofnobbys on Tue May 23, 2017 9:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

Found out the life expectancy of my 100L plastic rearing tubs the over day, I was reorganizing the cables for the heatpad & UV and basking globe last night (tangled up) and very lightly touched the side of Peppa's tub and it split.Oops !! I was hoping these two old rearing tubs (that Peppa and Toothless are in) would last another couple of months (til the November bulk domestic waste collection).Makes the two rearing tubs 8 years old , that's 8 years exposed to 5% UVB for the first 2 years, and then to 10% UVB for Puff and Rex for their first 18 months, then Peppa and Toothless for 18 months so far , all these were 16 hr per day UV exposure . Not bad too bad for such cheap lizard housing.

Quick temporary fix with some clear contact plastic to stop the crack from going further , and to reinforce the side a bit.

Tonight I commandeered one of 109L tubs we keep our grandson's toys in and converted it to a rearing tub, slightly longer and wider than the old 100L tubs so I had to fix the spare nanohood to the "new" tub's lid. Couldn't lay my hands on the soldering iron so I had to drill the ventilation holes rather using melting the groups of ventilation holes (using a soldering iron is better - less chance of splitting the plastic).My wife has commandeered the two 145L tubs , waited too long to use them so she found a use for them in the craftroom (my old study).

Job done in 90 minutes . Peppa gets a new rearing tub tomorrow.

Hopefully I'll be mobile enough and fit enough soon and able to build the new beardie house, Peppa and Toothless will be 2 years old soon.

Yes, sometimes the floor will crack after many years as well. Good thing they are relatively inexpensive to buy. Here's how I used to set up hatchlings and can be used up to about the 13" mark for a single dragon. Sizes of the branches increase with size of the dragon. Very simple + easy to clean and can be carried outside on warm [ but not too hot ] days for some natural sun.

AHBD wrote:Yes, sometimes the floor will crack after many years as well. Good thing they are relatively inexpensive to buy. Here's how I used to set up hatchlings and can be used up to about the 13" mark for a single dragon. Sizes of the branches increase with size of the dragon. Very simple + easy to clean and can be carried outside on warm [ but not too hot ] days for some natural sun.

The floors are good, have always have either coco fibre substrate over them (for the BTs) or paper toweling (for beardies ) covering them. The lids are OK too , too bad the old lids are too narrow for the new tubs (would have saved some mucking about).

Got out the Vernier calipers and checked the wall thicknesses , the old tubs are 1.45mm thick, the new ones are 1.80mm thick (and are UV stabilized too).Same height as old tub.But more floor space.

Running a heatpad in Peppa's new digs overnight (Rex's old tile sandwiched 7W heatpad) to make sure no residual gases are in the tub.Peppa was watching the new tub getting modded , she was very interested .

She'll be installed in it tomorrow night after she goes to sleep (she'll wake up in a new slightly wider tub).